Session 1: 11th January
Introduction: Conceptions and Contexts of Literacy
How do you understand and use the term 'literacy', does the concept change as we move from the 'traditional', analogue environments of paper, written text, film, and so forth, to digital, multimodal, pastiche environments?
Notes here, see also here for 2003 lecture notes.

Objectives

1. Clarification of module structure and coursework requirements.
2. Consider alternative interpretations of 'literacy'.
3. Examine literacy issues in relation to the moves from analogue to digital environments.
Essential Reading
Ryan, M-L. (1999). Introduction. Cyberspace, Textuality: Computer technology and literary theory. M-L. Ryan. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Additional Reading
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dowling, P.C. (2004). ‘Language, Discourse, Literacy: Stability, territory and transformation’. Culture and Learning: Access and Opportunity in the Curriculum. Mark Olssen (Ed.) Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. (pdf file)
Gough, P.B. (1995) ‘The New Literacy: caveat Emptor’. Journal of Research in Reading. 18 (2), pp. 79 –86.
McChesney, R. (2000). So Much for the Magic of Technology and the Free Market: The world wide web and the corporate media system. The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory. A. Herman and T. Swiss. (Eds). New York, Routledge.
Nunes, M. (1999). Virtual Topographies. Cyberspace, Textuality: Computer technology and literary theory. M-L. Ryan. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Sosnoski, J. (1999). Hyper-readers and their Reading Engines. Passions, Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies. G. E. Hawisher and C. L. Selfe (Eds). Logan, Utah State University Press.
Street, B.V. (1993). ‘The New Literacy Studies, Guest Editorial’. Journal of Research in Reading. 16 (8), pp.81-97.
Takase, K. (2001). 'Digital Technology and Literacy in Japanese'.
Coursework Title
Discuss alternative conceptions of 'literacy' in relation to one or more digital environment or technology.